Re: Re: SO-41

Ray and all,
These birds use permanent magnet stabilization just like AO-16 . . .
WO-19. The 'top' of the satellite is more or less up (away from the earth)
when over the US. Stations at high latitudes (like most US locations) are
looking at the side of the satellite most of the time during most
passes. The uplink antenna is mounted on the top near one edge. So you
will experience pretty deep fades on the uplink as the satellite rotates
and that antenna moves from the edge near you to the one away from
you. The rate is about 1 rev in a minute and a half or so (you can
actually measure it by timing the fades).
For more on the motion I would refer folks to a couple of articles in the
Journal from 1990 and 91 where that was examined in some detail.
The downlink is indeed *left* hand circular when this transmitter is use.
The TX-on schedule is dictated by power conservation and is controlled by
on board software automatically.
It does take a bit of power to get into this receiver/antenna.
Jim
jim@coloradosatellite.com
>On the 1222 pass this morning, I tried 5W to an Arrow antenna instead of
>the whip and made two QSOs, with N4ZQ and KD4ESV. However, with that
>setup (about 50W eirp), I was only able to get into the bird at high
>elevation angles, 40 degrees or more, when the inverse-square law was
>working in my favor. This is mostly going to be a bird for fixed
>stations, not portables or mobiles.
>
>73,
>
>Ray, W2RS
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